The planning module calculates the start date for each requisition that needs to go through an agency's procurement process, said Brock Lending, the Dulles, Va., company's chief technology officer. The module acts as a framework for negotiating project time frames between program and procurement offices.

Plenty of time

'That prevents the program office or the requisitioning side of the house from coming in with a very short deadline,' Lending said. 'It gives everybody time to do the job well.'

The new module includes a watch list'a number of mission-critical steps that need special attention, Lending said.

Like VPO, the planning module comes in browser and client-server versions, Lending said. Most agencies that use Compusearch's browser applications run them on their intranets behind firewalls, she said.

Both versions of the planning module require a server running Microsoft Windows NT, an Oracle database on the back end, and the VPO Prism procurement-management component, Lending said.

The General Services Administration Information Technology Schedule price for the planning module is about $17,500, Lending said.